The Cowpony

I cornered Curt. He was hurting...his shoulder was giving him problems. But I was NOT going to back down or lay off. Nosireebob! I wanted to work that bull! Having more stamina than the old man, I got my way, and out came the hydrabull!

Sandy trailed it beautifully, keeping pace with it rather nicely for his first time. Curt said he'd expected that he'd be afraid of it, but he wasn't. He trotted around on the inside of the circle, keeping his nose tipped out towards the bull as he kept an eye on it. He didn't understand the stop and turn stuff; we mostly just did circles. But a couple of times he had to turn and came nose to nose with the bull. His ears were forward and he wasn't too sure what this was all about as that thing came within breathing distance of him, but he never tried to shoot in a different direction. All in all, I was right proud of my boy.

That was last week. I drove back down again today for lesson number two. This time, Sandy began to figure out the stopping thing. The bull stops, the Sandy stops. He only got it on his own a couple of times, but that's a couple of times more than a lot of horses do on their second lesson, and Curt was pleased. Me, too! Sandy, however, just wanted to finish up so he could go eat grass.

I'd love to have photos for you, but again...who's going to take them? Me? Sandy? The Hydra Bull??? Darling may have to come along next week to satisfy your curiosity!

Simply Magic

The new boys are settling in around here. I've been having so much fun working so hard out on the trail with Jet and Sandy that I've not spent much time behind the camera lens photographing them, sadly. I thought about hauling my camera out at feeding time this morning as the sun hasn't quite poked it's sleepy head up over the hill yet and the lighting is fantastic...but some little skunk head borrowed my camera yesterday and left it in the trunk of City Boy's car...which is now 50 miles south of here. So no new photos. Yet.

In Molalla, aside from getting into trouble for hauling four horses home, I also met up with a friend from a northwest forum named Skittles. Okay, that's not her real name, but it's what she goes by online, therefore it's what she shall be called here.

Skittles wanted a horse, and for some reason all my romantic talk of mustangs had her thinking she absolutely MUST adopt. And of course, being the friendly enabler I am, I was more than happy to help her out in that endeavor. We spent the better part of Saturday morning moseying up and down the alleyways between the corrals looking at the horses. Her husband was partial to darker colored horses, as was she. They also preferred geldings, and they wanted something stout.

We found a super little yearling gelding, but decided it'd be a couple years before he was ready. But up in another pen of geldings stood a chunk of a brown three year old. He had a few nicks and dings from the other horses and was definitely the bottom of the pecking order in this group of four. Darling had liked him Friday night and Saturday morning told me that if I was getting the bay, that the brown really needed to come home with us as well because they were best buds. So when Skittles and her husband saw him and liked him, Darling was quite happy.

Skittles and her husband named the gelding Simply Magic, and he's been sent home with me for 30 days of gentling. Magic is not a hugely tall horse, but there's no doubt as to the drafty influence; this boy is mammoth! Huge shoulders, humungous hiney, and heavy neck. Thankfully he has no clue just how big he is or he'd steamroll right over me. As it is, he shares with Sandy a bit of timidity and isn't too eager to get up close and personal.

The goal for Magic over the next three weeks is to get him relaxed and easy to catch. He wants to be my buddy. He wants to be brave. But he hangs back and prefers to stay safe inside his bat cave, aka stall, rather than joining me outside in the sunlight. He has, however, learned to give to the pressure of the lead and is now following me, although a bit reluctantly, around his pen. Last night he was brave enough to let me touch him, even outside of his bat cave.

Who's Who's Horse?

Otterkat left a comment recently about being confuddled around here regarding who's horse was who's. As in, at one time Darling and I talked about trading Firecracker for Jet, and Jet would belong to Darling. Otterkat also recalled that it was Darling who'd decided that Quiet Storm was too small and she needed a taller horse.

Congratulations, Otter, for paying attention! Gold star to you, girl!

Quiet Storm learns to carry a bit

Yes, Darling had decided to pass QS along, but it was impulse shopping while in Burns that spurred her into that decision. For a solid month afterwards she moped and cried about selling her best friend. She'd break out in tears walking through the mall and climb out of bed in the mornings and come sit in my lap and shed more tears. I had a lot of wet shoulders. That little horse meant a lot to her, and they were best friends. She hadn't known that QS was going to be at the adoption, I'd not told her in advance. Perhaps I should have, just to get her heart prepared.

Thing is...I'm finding my heart being wrenched around now, too, since she's come back into our lives. There's something terribly special about that little horse and I'm struggling just as much as Darling.

Darling's boy, Dude Lee Doright

As for Jet...Darling enjoys her immensely, especially now that she's able to be ridden a bit more, but a few days after the 'trade' she said she didn't really know if it's what she wanted to do. Then she picked out Dude while we were in Pasco last month, so that is her true horse.

City Boy enjoys Jet, too, and has staked a claim. Of course, we told him it was his horse when we drove into the driveway with her last year. What a super gift, eh? Not all wives and daughters would have been so considerate! So of course she belongs to him...he's just gracious enough to let me ride.

Jet Storm